On safari With Mark 15-16 December 2015

15 December 2015

So today we start my Last tour for 2015. My great pax Mimmi and Tomas arrived and off we headed for the Kruger.

We had no soon entered when we found 3 big buffalo bulls, a dazzle of zebra and a herd of Kudu. As we continued with the afternoon drive we found a further 2 herds of buffalo and some fantastic Elephants that crossed over the road in front of our car.

With many happy sighting for the afternoon it was time to head into camp for the night.

16 December 2015

After an early breakfast we headed out in search of some cats while it was still cool.

We got to hear about a leopard and responded. Didn't find it and carried on our drive. Lions were found and as we sat with these 2 beautiful looking males and 1 female - up got the male and proceeded to mate with the female. The beginning of the mating process had just started.  

We also received a further tip on another leopard which we responded to. This was great and we did get to see it lying under a sickle bush trying to escape the heat of the day. Although lots of traffic on the roads for this time of the year, the animals are still out and about and showing themselves well.

Further to this we spotted many different general game with further sightings of buffalo, rhino and elephant.

We returned to camp feeling blessed with the sightings of the day.

Let's see what the future holds for us on this safari.

On Safari With Curtis 15-16 December 2015

15 December 2015

After the guests enthusiasm at seeing the rhino we were spoilt with four more sightings of the white rhino today. Eight in total really gave everyone something to smile about.

We also had a lovely sighting of ten giraffe together with a few zebra and fifty odd Impala. Two of the giraffe were busy necking, a rather weak play-fighting done in slow motion. This gave the guests more laughs than concern but always fun to watch.

Also seen were elephants, kudu, waterbuck, zebra, wildebeest, klipspringer,  steenbok, common duiker,  dwarf mongoose,  buffalo, Impala, hippo, Vervet monkey and hyena.

Birds included the malachite Kingfisher, Pied Kingfisher,  saddle billed stork, dark chanting goshawk,  grey headed hornbill, white breasted cormorants and lilac breasted roller.

16 December 2015

The final morning which was taken up with a leopard search. We responded to two sightings but no luck!!!

Sometimes that's the way it goes!!!

Our highlight was at mestel dam where we found three bull elephants having a drink. They seemed to be finished as they walked off but then one turned and walked straight into the water submerging himself.

This was the queue for the other two to do the same. Now while the two were busy play fighting each other the larger one made up a game of his own. Namely eight pin hippo bowling!!!

The rules are simple you just walk straight up to eight hippos and walk right through forcing all the hippos to scurry in all directions, then if one hippo is silly enough to pop up to close you smack your trunk down on the water scarring him away.

With hippos shown whose boss he went back to submerging himself with the other two ellies.

Also we had two new species of mammal for the tour in the form of bushbuck and common reedbuck.

Then it was time to say farewell to Ming and Qhan. Travel safe guys and great to have met you.

On Safari With Gert 14 December 2015

14 December 2015

Another drizzly morning after a night of rain, today was considerably cooler, but still good game viewing conditions.

We were very lucky first up, as the first animals we saw, about 200 meters from camp, was a pride of lions moving along the road and into the bush. We took a road running parallel to the direction they were moving in, hoping to catch another glimpse, but instead encountered 3 large, old male buffalo. We observed them for a while, still waiting to see if the lions emerge anywhere close. This did not happen and we moved on to see what else was in store for us.

We were lucky enough to again encounter the same 3 male cheetah, a few kilometers from where we got them yesterday. This time they were sleeping on a large termite mound, in the open, but about 80m away, a distant, but clear visual...

Along the road we had 3 different sightings of hyena, including 2 cubs of just over 2 months old suckling with another young clan member repeatedly poking her nose in there to the annoyance of the mother, who sounded regular warning growls. She eventually jumped at the young intruder with teeth bared and paws flailing, which got the message across and scared her off, at least temporarily.

After breakfast we headed back to camp for an afternoon break.

In the late afternoon we went for a short drive through some lush terrain with fresh green grass, thriving on the recent rains. At one spot we had Impala, warthog, white rhino, zebra and elephant feeding in close proximity of each other and it was a great experience to see so many different species together. At the end of our drive we were temporarily entertained by a Pearl-spotted Owlet on the lookout for unsuspecting prey at dusk. These little (80gm) owls are notorious hunters and I have even seen them attempt to hunt Tree Squirrel before! We watched it calling for a while and show off it's eye-spots, before it was time to head back to camp to conclude another great day's game viewing...

On Safari With Amanda 14 December 2015

14 December 2015

A beautiful cool day today in the park compared to the last couple of days!

My guests returned last night from a very productive night drive seeing not 1 but 2 leopards so incredibly lucky!

After a chilled breakfast we headed to malelane gate for our last drive together. 

The animals were enjoying the cool weather, impalas and zebras eating together and then a few meters from them were 5 male buffalo's eating.. my guests were now happy as they had completed their big 5 wish.

We came across lots of elephants a young male displayed his annoyance at our presence by trumpeting loudly and following us down the road as we drove away!

After coffee we headed for our last part of the drive to skukuza airport.

We observed some lovely granite koppies and noticed the impala were very skittish and alarm calling, although we didn't see what was bothering them I believe there was a leopard walking past somewhere not too far from them and we sat and watched, their heads following whatever was bothering them until they all ran across the road occasionally looking back and calling..

Further down the road we saw at least 8 wildebeest running across the road also alarm calling but again the cause of their alarm was not seen only our imagination led us to believe it was definitely a predator be it a lion or a leopard their behavior gave away the predators presence! !

A last minute souvenir spree and my guests were safely at the airport..

Another rewarding trip in the best place on earth... Kruger National Park.